Dnipro River below Zaporizhzhia will not be navigable for a while – Shipping Administration

The Dnipro River below Zaporizhzhia will cease to be navigable for a long time as a result of the blowing up of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP).

Source: Yevhen Ihnatenko, Head of the Shipping Administration of Ukraine 

"The terrorist act [committed] by the Russian Federation will have disastrous consequences for the entire region as a whole and the future restoration of navigation in particular. Due to the sudden flooding of territory, the infrastructure of the ports and terminals located in the region has been destroyed and disabled, and many ships have sank and been put out of action," he said.

Ihnatenko said that the Dnipro River will remain navigable beyond the Dnipro Hydroelectric Power Plant. However, it will not be navigable further down the river for quite a while. After the water level drops, the vessels there will be stranded.

This means that problems will arise below the Kakhovka lock itself.

"The Kakhovka lock was the last lock on the Dnipro that let all ships out to the open sea. In fact, the gateway for Ukrainian exports has been blocked," Ihnatenko said.

Problems are also already arising upstream.

"The water level in the Kakhovka reservoir is dropping by 10 cm every hour. The permissible level on the lower reaches of the Zaporizhzhia lock is 14 metres, and this morning it was 16 metres. Therefore, if the level falls below this mark, we cannot operate locks in Zaporizhzhia effectively," he said.

Now civilian vessels from the Kakhovka reservoir are being relocated to Zaporizhzhia so they do not become stranded.

"For the second day in a row, the administration has been actively working with shipowners whose vessels are currently located in the water area of the Kakhovka reservoir. That totals about 50 vessels. Our task is to ensure their unhindered relocation from their bases higher up the Dnipro River through the Zaporizhzhia lock," Ihnatenko said.

Note:

The Dnipro River is the main artery of river navigation in Ukraine.

Russian occupation forces blew up the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) on the night of 5-6 June 2023, causing the Kakhovka reservoir to drain rapidly.

Over the past day (7 June), the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir has dropped by almost a metre.

Preliminary data indicates that the loss in aquatic wildlife has already amounted to UAH 2 billion (US$ 53.5 million). Ukrhydroenergo, the national regulator of hydro power plants in Ukraine, says that the rebuilding of the dam will take five years.

The government has already allocated UAH 1.5 billion (US$ 40.268 million) for constructing mains water pipelines in Ukraine's south. With these water pipes, it is planned to provide a centralised water supply to those settlements which have experienced problems with water supply due to the explosion at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. UAH 845 million (roughly US$ 22,685) have been allocated to Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts to provide the population with drinking water.

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